Dave Bautista has spent the last decade painstakingly establishing a reputation as a talented actor. He’s proved his comedic and action chops many times over in his appearances as Drax in the MCU, though has also impressed in more straightforwardly dramatic roles in Blade Runner 2049, Dune, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story.
Today’s release of M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin looks set to add another string to his bow, with critics praising his performance as mysterious stranger Leonard. We won’t go further into his character as we don’t want to spoil the movie, but let’s just say he knocks his role out of the park.
As such, many are drawing comparisons to Bautista’s long-time wrestler-turned-actor rival Dwayne Johnson, whose much-hyped DC superhero adventure Black Adam stumbled out of the gate and ended up disappointing at the box office. Folks on social media are having a field day:
Well, at least Bautista has more range:
Is there higher praise?
The gauntlet has been thrown down:
A bit unfair as Johnson can act, though almost always plays the same kind of character:
We don’t want to bag on Johnson too hard, as what he does he does very well. That said, it’s been widely noted that Johnson not only plays the same kind of character but usually looks pretty much the same:
We’d love to see Johnson take this as a challenge and try to expand the type of roles he takes. Black Adam was arguably a step in the right direction as he’s something of an antihero, though it’s more of a shuffle to the side than moving into unknown territory.
But, with Knock at the Cabin, Bautista has set a high bar for wrestlers-turned-actors. Let’s hope it pushes Johnson into taking riskier roles.
Knock at the Cabin hits theaters today.